The present invention relates generally to the field of computer data storage systems, and more particularly to a method of, and a system for, controlling storage devices in a storage system. In such storage systems each storage device has certain attributes relating to the operation of that storage device, for example, mirroring, snapshot management, access security, etc. In operation of the storage system these attributes must be defined when the system is first initialized, and may later be changed as the needs of users of that system change.
Businesses and other organizations do a substantial amount of their computing in a networked client-server environment. Members of the organization often do their work using networked personal computers, and then store their data either locally or in shared storage. This shared storage is often implemented as a Storage Area Network (SAN) environment. A SAN is a high speed network that allows the establishment of direct connections between hosts and storage devices.
SANs create new methods of attaching storage to host computers. These new methods provide improvements in both availability of storage, reliability, security of data, and performance. In a large installation, a SAN may include thousands of logical units (typically individual hard disk drives), embodied in multiple storage arrays. Normally, the logical units are divided into groups, and each department or division within the organization is allocated a group.
A group is often used to provide dedicated shared storage for the corresponding department or division. Grouping of logical units allows a system administrator to allocate sufficient storage to a department or division and it segregates the data of the department or division from the data of others. One method for assigning devices to groups is described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application entitled “Techniques for Managing a Storage Environment,” Ser. No. 10/374,319, filed Feb. 25, 2003. There is currently no means, however, by which an administrator can set capabilities like mirroring, prohibiting access except by authorized hosts, and snapshot management features for a group as a whole. Instead, the administrator typically sets such features individually for each logical unit. With groups including thousands of logical units, and often multiple storage systems, setting the attributes for each logical unit is a time consuming, error prone and tedious task.